John Hannigan - The Geopolitics of Deep Oceans

To Ruth

Copyright John Hannigan 2016

The right of John Hannigan to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in 2016 by Polity Press

Polity Press

65 Bridge Street

Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK

Polity Press

350 Main Street

Malden, MA 02148, USA

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-8018-7

ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-8019-4 (pb)

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hannigan, John A., 1948

The geopolitics of deep oceans / John Hannigan.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-7456-8018-7 (hardback) ISBN 978-0-7456-8019-4 (pbk.) 1. Ocean. 2. Abyssal zone. 3. Geopolitics. I. Title.

JZ3690.H36 2015

341.45dc23

2015011653

Typeset in 10.5 on 12 pt Sabon

by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited

Printed and bound in the UK by Clays Ltd, St Ives PLC

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In February 2015, a week ago as I write these lines, Eugenie Clark, the Shark Lady, died aged 92 at her home in Sarasota, Florida. In a lifetime filled with discovery, adventure and professional achievement, Eugenie made over 70 deep dives in submersibles, appeared in 50 television specials and documentaries, developed a shark repellent and discovered three species of fish new to science. One of the great pleasures of writing a book on deep oceans has been to come across a cast of larger than life characters like Eugenie Clark who collectively have contributed so much to our understanding of and fascination with the deep. Consider Arthur C. Clarke, the celebrated science fiction author, who was also a devoted diver and a tireless proselytizer for colonizing the underwater frontier in the 1950s. And then there was the aristocratic Elisabeth Mann Borgese, daughter of the esteemed novelist Thomas Mann and member of the legendary Club of Rome, who probably did more than anyone to encourage the scholarly study of the Law of the Sea. And, of course, one should not forget Jacques Cousteau, inventor of the aqualung, captain of the research ship Calypso, underwater treasure hunter and pioneering marine ecological activist.

When I first floated the idea of writing about the geopolitics of deep oceans to Louise Knight, Senior Acquisitions Editor at Polity, it must have seemed somewhat of a leap of faith. While I had written books about environmental sociology and on the international politics of natural disasters, I had not published anything pertaining to oceans, except for a pair of journal articles on El Nios and meteorological science, and a piece decades ago on flag of convenience ships and maritime labour. To her everlasting credit, Louise believed in this project and sagely pointed me towards the excellent and related work being done by Klaus Dodds of Royal Holloway, University of London, and his colleagues on Polar Regions and critical geopolitics. Also at Polity, Louise's assistant Pascal Porcheron inherited the project from David Winters and has done a wonderful job shepherding it through the various stages of editorial review and production. Justin Dyer was a rigorous and perceptive copy-editor. At a point where I was just beginning to see how everything fitted together, Phil Burgess, Director of Policy and Research at the Global Ocean Commission, generously met with me at Somerville College, Oxford, to discuss the book project. It was reassuring to realize for the first time that I was headed in the right direction. I am indebted to one of the appraisers of this project (identified only as Reader #1), who went far beyond the call of duty in text-editing the manuscript as well as offering some really useful and collegial suggestions about books and articles I might want to read.

Finally, I could not have done this without the support of my family. When I was thinking about a new environmental writing project to follow Disasters without Borders (Hannigan, 2012), my wife Ruth and I talked at length about various possibilities at one point volcanoes were a candidate before I embraced her suggestion that I might want to consider oceans. Coming across the timely and suspenseful British television series The Deep sealed the deal. Ruth's love, interest and enthusiasm throughout this project have been vital to its success. Tim, our younger son, who starts his own professorial career at the University of Alberta in October 2015, assumed the critical task of merging the chapters into a single document. In addition, he offered up some insightful comments, as did TJ, his older brother, who is nearing completion of his doctorate at Temple University. The rest of the family, our two girls Maeve and Olivia and our 3 year-old grandson Andrew, each provided support in their own way. Thank you one and all.